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Policies on Condom Ads Can Take a Different Direction Online

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Policies on Condom Ads Can Take a Different Direction Online

By Stuart Elliott April 30, 2009 9:52 amApril 30, 2009 9:52 am

A TV viewer who recently watched an episode of the NBC series “Kings” was surprised to see a commercial for Trojan condoms during the show. And a second spot. And a third. And two more.

Five condom spots during a prime-time drama on NBC? Well, it was 4 o’clock in the afternoon, rather than prime time. And although “Kings” appears on NBC, the viewer was watching the episode on hulu.com, the video Web site jointly run by NBC and Fox.

As it turns out, Hulu does accept condom advertising without the restrictions imposed upon such spots by NBC, part of the NBC Universal unit of General Electric, and Fox, part of the News Corporation. Hulu also takes commercials for other products the broadcast networks restrict, like distilled spirits.

The ability of the online media to aim the advertising messages seen by viewers is a major reason for the difference in policies.

“In an online environment, innovations around targeting are an important benefit to our advertisers,” JP Colaco, senior vice president for advertising at Hulu, said in an e-mail message.

“At Hulu, we are building strong targeting capabilities to allow advertisers to reach the most relevant audience through filters,” he added, which include the time of day a spot appears and the demographic group to which the viewer belongs.

NBC’s policy is to run condom commercials in the final hour of prime time, from 10 to 11 p.m., says a spokeswoman, Kathy Kelly-Brown, “as long as the content is related to disease prevention.”

“The content can include some sexually oriented themes after 11:30,” she added, when NBC is broadcasting programs like “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”

According to Scott Grogin, a spokesman for the Fox Networks Group unit of the News Corporation, “Fox does accept condom advertising during late-night programming.”

In an e-mail message, Mr. Grogin said that “condom ads (like all ads) are considered on a case-by-case basis.”

The broadcasters frequently exercise their power of veto to turn down condom commercials submitted to them for possible presentation. For instance, in 2007, Fox and CBS rejected a condom commercial submitted by Trojan, owned by Church & Dwight.

In statements made at the time, Fox said the spot was turned down because it focused on pregnancy prevention rather than “health-related uses” and CBS said the spot was not “appropriate for our network even with late-night restrictions.”

By comparison, the five Trojan commercials during the episode of “Kings” on Hulu ran the gamut from nice to naughty to racy. One humorous spot, 15 seconds long, presented condoms as “our own stimulus package” and included a couple of phrases with double meanings that are not acceptable for a blog of a family newspaper.

Another condom spot on Hulu took the form of a rap-music video clip, “Be a Trojan Man.” A third commercial featured a singer-songwriter, Evan Tauberfeld, reciting a series of euphemisms and synonyms for the word condom before concluding with the Trojan campaign theme: “Evolve. Use a condom every time.”

In addition to the five commercials, a banner bearing the Trojan brand name appeared on the upper right corner of the screen during the entire time the viewer watched the episode of “Kings.”

With broadcast and (especially many cable) programming
approaching a zenith of decadence… I wouldn’t worry about the ads for condoms.

I viewed briefly a cable program yesterday aimed at teens and younger and the amount of “kick your a** violence was astounding!

And, MTV, a Viacom outlet — the same company which owns CBS television and radio has evolved from playing videos of pop songs using “V-Jays” into a program oriented format which just 20 years ago would have been banned by FCC broadcast standards as poronography.

No kidding: I believe that one of the resons that puberty is arriving so much earlier is networks like MTV. (I could be wrong concerning this hypothesis.)

Teens and pre-teens pay far more attention to their peers to stay cool. Parents have little say in this matter.

Condom ads serve a valuable public service, rather, they serve an essential public service. The growing number of teen pregnancies and the continuous spread of venereal diseases can be slowed down and even reduced by the use of condoms by the population that otherwise does not use common sense when it engages in sexual contact. Social and religious sensitivities concerning frank and straightforward approaches to sexual issues, including the use of condoms makes it difficult to intelligently handle the issues of teenage pregnancy, the spread of disease in all age groups, and an honest and factual approach to life issues that must be faced by everyone. The insistence of the right to assert oppressive and restrictive opinions without allowing contrary opinions to be aired is the hallmark of an authoritative and dictatorial regime and not at all proper in a self declared democratic society. Hurrah for the condom ads!

The targeted ads explanation is a bunch of b.s. Hulu has an option to rate each ad while it is running. I have “thumbs downed” the trojan ads each of the over hundred times they have come up, and yet they continue to show them while I am signed in under my account. Hulu has sold its soul to make a quick buck, and in the process has furthered the problem of teenage promiscuity and general sexual perversion in our society.